A Lost Gem of the 70's

Take a look at this movie that I bet you haven't seen!

It's time to take a look into the vault. Today, I'm writing this article, which is going to be about one of the most underrated animated movies of the 70's: "The Phantom Tollbooth". For those of you who may not know, this movie is based on a book by Norton Juster, a quite good one too. The movie was filmed in 1969 but released in 1970. I discovered it in 1995 on Cartoon Network as a feature played on "Mr. Spimm's Cartoon Theatre".The movie opens up with this live-action segment. It starts out focusing on this kid named Milo who is so bored with the world. The character of Milo is played by Butch Patrick, who is most known for playing the role of Eddie Munster on the TV series, "The Munsters". Anyway, Milo comes home from school and gets a phone call from his friend, Ralph, and he complains to Ralph how boring his life is.Suddenly, Milo discovers this weird box in his bedroom (a freaky-looking one, I might add). On the box was an envelope saying that it was a present for Milo. Inside the envelope was a message telling Milo to pull a tab.Milo does so, and BOOM! Suddenly, the box explodes into this tollbooth. The tollbooth talks to Milo and says he has earned a trip into the world beyond...beyond his wildest imagination.Then, suddenly, out of nowhere comes this car, which he is to use to drive through the world he's about to enter. He is also supplied with a map and an instruction manual. After making up his mind, Milo drives through the tollbooth, and now, he's become a cartoon.Milo now has no idea what he's doing. He's driving through this animated world he's never seen before. You can probably tell by the animation and the music that this movie was directed by Chuck Jones, who, prior to "The Phantom Tollbooth", is most known for his work at Termite Terrace at directing some of the classic Looney Tunes shorts like Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote and Pepe Le Pew.Along the way, Milo meets up with a watch dog (Wow, I can't believe I'm making that kind of a pun) named Tock. Tock is only one of the few beings in this strange world who makes any sense. Milo was pleased to meet Tock, and they both became really close friends.Tock explains to Milo the whole purpose as to what's going on. In this world, words and numbers are at war. When the old king of this kingdom (formerly known as the Kingdom of Wisdom) died, the kingdom was divided into two states: Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. King Azaz, the ruler of Dictionopolis passed a law that words are more important than numbers, while the Mathemagician, the ruler of Digitopolis, passed a law of the exact opposite. Their only chance of bringing the kingdom back into sanity is to go to the Castle in the Air and free the princesses of Rhyme and Reason from the evil demons.Milo and Tock went to Dictionopolis and Digitopolis to speak with both kings to let them know that they were going to free Rhyme and Reason. While in Dictionopolis, they got a new teammate, Mr. Humbug. Both kings were pleased to hear about Milo's mission and thought it would really help their kingdom. I might also add that this movie introduced me to the word: "Balderdash". This was before I knew about the board game.One scene in the movie that really stuck out to me was the scene that involved Chromo the Great. Milo had a chance to meet him just in time to watch him conduct the sunset of the night.After which, Milo came to Chromo and complimented on his work. But then Chromo went to sleep and told Milo to wake him up at 5:23 so that he could conduct the sunrise. This left Milo in a desperate situation.Humbug, however, suggested that Milo should conduct the sunrise himself and save them some time. Did Milo do it? You bet he did!But, of course, having no conducting experience at all, Milo made a complete disaster out of the sunrise and messed up the whole sky leaving absolutely no sense in the Kingdom of Wisdom.Man, they were on drugs when they made this movie! If you thought "Yellow Submarine" was weird, well this movie makes that movie look like "The Lion King"! I can't believe I'm making that kind of a comparison!Towards the end of the movie, our heroes make it to the Castle in the Air, but first, they must face off with the demons who guard Rhyme and Reason. By this time, however, Milo has learned that everyone is not what they may seem, and he figures out how to deal with the demons. Now, that's heroism right there!I'd probably go on about the movie, but then I'd probably give away the ending. I guess I could say that there are some other familiar voice actors in this movie like Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Hans Conried and June Foray. I actually find it kind of ironic that Chuck Jones decided to do this movie. He's one of the greatest cartoon directors of all time, and for this movie, I'd say he was the perfect guy to direct it. Even though the movie did scare me to death the first time I watched it, I still consider it to be an overlooked gem that many should view.

So, if you've been on a search for the freakiest and most bizarre animated movie ever, your search has ended. "The Phantom Tollbooth" is the one. If you happen to have any desire to watch this movie, my best recomendation is don't watch it on the weekend, because if you do, it'll haunt you until Monday morning. If you want to try to find this movie, check DVD Planet (believe me, they have everything). If not, then just keep on searching for it; I'm sure there may be a copy of it out there, and good luck.

Oh, and one more thing: IF ANY OF THE STUFF ON THIS ARTICLE SOUNDS LIKE THE ANGRY VIDEO GAME NERD, DEAL WITH IT!

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Great article! BTW Sherrow circa Fantastic Planet is by far the craziest movie I have ever seen. If anyone reading this hasn't seen Fantastic Planet please go find it just so you can see how fucking crazy it is.

Actually, I do recall this one, one of Chuck's finer works. Felt sorry for Butch Patrick, the poor kid can't catch a break! First, he's Eddie Munster, then he was Milo, then the guy in Lidsville, apparently he couldn't have a normal life it seems. XD

Funny thing, Chuck recalls the reason most don't remember this movie was the fact The Phantom Tollbooth was once banned in theaters for 'subversive' attitudes. Though Chuck never really understood why, because when you view it now, it seems rather acceptable.

What I loved about the movie were the songs, especially Dr. Cacophony's song and Tock's 'Time is a Gift.' Secretly I'd like to find the DVD again because it was a great film. And genuinely one which Hollywood didn't ruin, since it kept mostly with the book.

Didn't everyone have to watch and read the Phantom Tollbooth in elementary school?

Well right up until the disclaimer at the bottom I was ready with a thumbs up.

But then you went and did that...and though I think its ridiculous that you feel the need to justify yourself like that, not to mention ridiculously petty, I'm still giving you a thumbs up because the article wasn't that bad! An improvement over the last one to be sure, mostly because you didn't spend the whole time patting yourself on the back and actually talked about interesting stuff!

Great Toon guy ..Only In my Opinion, Fantastic Planet 1973 is the freakiest most bizzate animayed film have you seen this? I tried to add it to the movies page but officers have not approved it yet.... GET ON THE BALL PEOPLE!!!

In sixth grade, I read the book and watched the movie, which was part of a class that I took. I thought that it was very good. Definately one of the best works by Chuck Jones! Nowadays, I'm unable to find the movie (unfortunately). I haven't seen it in years. Excellent article, btw. It brought back so many memories.

The Phantom Tollbooth is one of my all time favorite "children's" book of all times!! It clever, imaginative, and make look at things in a different perspective!! Its totally awesome, and I loved the movie itself...the animation was true Chuck Jones through and through!!

I remember my 3rd grade class having to choose which movie to watch before our Christmas party and our class chose the Phantom Toll Booth over the Hobbit. Not a bad cartoon. Weird beyond belief (as you correctly pointed out), so it was no surprise when our teacher turned it off so we could start the party ahead of time.To this day, I have yet to watch it all the way through. Just too strange for my taste. If I want a good, weird children's cartoon, I'll watch Little Nemo.Not a bad follow-up, dalmationlover. keep it up.

This is an improvement over your last article, but don't disregard criticism because you don't want to hear it. People make an effort to comment on these things, the good and the bad, in hopes that the author takes some of it in and uses the feedback to make an even better article. I enjoyed your works like Care Bears Dark Side and Singing Thurly Deep, but even you can tell what's different between those and the newer articles you seem to pump out every couple of days. Take your own advice: listen to the constructive criticism and learn from it. Not only will people respect you more, but your audience will expand, too.

Ah, I knew there was an animated film adaptation of The Phantom Tollbooth, but I could never find any imformation about it before! Thanks for this! It sounds like they changed a lot of stuff, but I am very interested in watching this movie.

Thumbs up here! Always looking for new movies to check out!! Thanks for the heads up....and I thought this article was just fine. I don't ration my thumbs like some of the nitpickers on this site.....nor do I give a thumbs down just because I disagree with something.

QUOTED:Oh, and one more thing: IF ANY OF THE STUFF ON THIS ARTICLE SOUNDS LIKE THE ANGRY VIDEO GAME NERD, DEAL WITH IT!=====

Where the hell did this come from? This isn't even a video game review...and I don't recall you ranting about the cartoon either. This totally spoiled the article for me...I was about to go Thumbs Up until I saw this...

Wow. Chuck Jones made this? I'm surprised it wasn't on the Chuck Jones collection DVD with Rikki Tikki Tavi, A Cricket In Times Square, and The Little Seal. I remember Tock, the dog with a clock for a body.

I agree with stickymango. Did you know this was a book and not just a film? And when you made this article you thought not. Plus you can't handle other people's criticism very well and you want others to force good opinions.

By the way, I always wanted to watch that film ever since they played it on Mr. Spimm's Cartoon Theatre. Never did, and that was one of my most missed out opportunities as a child since watching the whole thing of another gem I sadly forgot it's name yet was able to recognize it.

And yes, I read the book. As a child I never knew this was a book, but even in your twenties you never knew this was a book before?

All I can say is I have a neutral viewpoint on this article, so no thumbs up or down for this.

...and? You're giving us a synopsis, what are you bringing to the table? If I wanted to read about Milo's adventure, I would have Googled the plot or read the story. I want to hear about your experiences watching this film or tell me why it's underrated. I feel like it's a well-known movie, but that could be just me. Although you attempt to put in some facts, nothing personal is added to the article and no "new" information is given. Thumbs down.

Also, I see you have a trend of mentioning at the bottom of your articles something along the lines of "If I sound like (so and so) deal with it!" That's a bit harsh and puts a negative tone to an otherwise feel-good piece. If you have to put in that disclaimer, you may want to look over your articles and see if there's anything you can change to put your own 'dalmatianlover' touch on it.